Kim Dickens Reacts to Fear the Walking Dead Return: “Utter Shock”

Warning: this story contains spoilers for Sunday’s “Gone” episode of Fear the Walking Dead. No one’s gone until they’re gone — and Madison Clark isn’t gone. One week after Alicia Clark (Alycia Debnam-Carey) walked off into the radioactive sunset, Sunday’s “Gone” season finale revealed her mother survived setting fire to a horde of the infected in the Season 4 midseason finale “No One’s Gone.” Not only has Madison (Kim Dickens) been separated from her kids since Season 4, she’s been “rescuing” children — separating them from their own families — as a Collector for P.A.D.R.E., a mysterious organization that will be the focus of Season 8. 

After Dickens announced her surprise return live on Talking Dead in December, co-star Colman Domingo revealed he acted as a mediator to bring Madison back to Fear the Walking Dead. In AMC’s Show Me More: Inside Fear the Walking Dead Season 7 (Pt. 2) making-of featurette, below, Dickens shared her reaction to being asked to return to the Walking Dead Universe for the first time since she was “killed off” in Season 4: 

“My first reaction was just utter shock when I heard that they wanted to bring Madison back,” Dickens said. “And joy.”

For Lennie James, whose Morgan Jones meets Madison Clark in “Gone,” his scenes with Dickens were “a tick on my bucket list.”

“She’s somebody I wanted to work with, I felt like the opportunity to work with her had gone,” said James, who crossed over from The Walking Dead to Fear the Walking Dead in the spinoff’s fourth season. “And then it hadn’t gone, and it came back, so ‘tick.’” 

After Domingo reached out to facilitate her return to Fear, Dickens recalled, “[Showrunners Andrew Chambliss and Ian Goldberg] pitched me their idea, and I was just blown away. I was excited.” 

“Kim Dickens is one of my very best friends,” said Domingo. “I’ve been a cheerleader for her coming back. I’m so happy everyone agreed.” 

Dickens joins James and Domingo as a series regular in Fear the Walking Dead Season 8, which will film this summer in Savannah, Georgia. Follow @CameronBonomolo on Twitter & @NewsOfTheDead for TWD Universe coverage all season long.